The Blind Center of Nevada offers many resources to the blind or visually impaired. This includes the Electronic Recycling Refurbishing Operation, which employs those who are blind or visually impaired, while creating revenue to help the blind community while keeping the environment clean.
The donation of electronics by individuals, businesses and retail giants keeps inventory full. This includes laptops, desktops, cellphones, modems, tablets, keyboards, mouse, monitors, screens and trackpads. Customers purchase the certified refurbished electronics from The Blind Center’s eBay and Amazon stores.
The Blind Center ranks in the top 3 percent of eBay sellers for charity and all sellers. This is based on all the metrics, including shipping time, customer service, return rate and other factors. The Blind Center has 100 percent positive customer feedback and a five-star rating on Amazon.
“Those things matter to us because that means we’re doing the job that we want, and we’re very appreciative of those people spending their money and supporting our mission,” said Ryan Wilson, Director of Operations at The Blind Center of Nevada.
Staff members include blind, visually impaired and sighted individuals, keeping The Blind Center self-sufficient without relying on government funding.
“The program was started about 18 years ago by a board member who owned an electronic e-waste company located in California to become self-sustainable. In the last seven years, we’ve really ramped the program up, got our certifications and ensured that we’re operating the program properly. Customer service is what we provide and pride ourselves on the most,” Wilson said. This includes being vetted and certified for R2 standards, meaning responsible recycler; and The Blind Center is the only nonprofit that is certified through R2.
“In each part of the process, there are visually impaired individuals performing the task, sometimes doing it better than sighted people. There is a determination to be productive, earn a living pursuing a career and enjoy family life,” Wilson said.
Walking into the Electronic Recycling Refurbishing warehouse, Alton Taylor (a blind vet) is the scheduler. His responsibilities include receiving inbound calls, making outbound calls for donation pickup or e-waste pickups and scheduling donation drives throughout the community. The Blind Center trucks pick-up donations and everything is weighed, sorted and tagged.
“We then separate everything with data or potential data to go down a separate process where we’ll wipe that data, destroy that data and then evaluate those items as well for resellability or remarketing,” Wilson said. “Those will go on our e-commerce platforms. Everything else that is obsolete, old or doesn’t work is sent to our recycling operation.”
After diagnostics, data is erased and a shredder destroys motherboards and hard drives. Christian Anorve, who is visually impaired, handles data destruction, dismantling and some other tasks, including rebuilding computers. Aluminum, copper, metal, power supplies, wire and other items are retrieved from items to be sold. On a personal note, Anorve met his wife, Megan Glinp, at The Blind Center, where she also works.
Other visually impaired members who work in the warehouse include Marco Martinez, Cristobal Sotelo and Juan Reyes. All three earn an income, have families and have fun. Martinez met his wife at The Blind Center, and they recently welcomed their first baby. Sotelo also teaches a computer class at The Blind Center for those who are newly blind and need to relearn technology or get up to speed. Visually impaired individuals are trained for job readiness skills, especially technology. Most of the staff are long-time employees. Volunteers also help in the operation.
“The Electronic Recycling Refurbishing Operation is all about training, business, economy, self-sufficiency and sustainability. It’s not just about what we do in terms of making money, but about how we’re impacting the environment, people’s lives and giving them opportunities,” Wilson said.
For more information, visit blindcenter.org and follow on Facebook, IG and X @ blindcenternv.